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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26251708">What Lurks in the Past</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ambivertedintrovert/pseuds/ambivertedintrovert'>ambivertedintrovert</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Also there are brief moments when Webby's parents are mentioned, Hi I love their relationship, Technically everyone except Webby and Beakley are mentioned, Webby's innocence is refreshing</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-20 09:02:02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,595</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26251708</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ambivertedintrovert/pseuds/ambivertedintrovert</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Webby loved her grandmother. After all, she had been the only person she had known from as far as she could remember. And she was confident her grandmother felt the same.</p><p>Bentina Beakley herself would shred anyone who said otherwise to pieces.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bentina Beakley &amp; Webby Vanderquack</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>33</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>What Lurks in the Past</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Webby knew her grandmother wasn’t like other grandmothers, even as a small girl. She had read about the stereotypical grandmothers in her storybooks; they liked to knit sweaters, tell stories and bake cookies.</p><p>No, her grandmother wasn’t like other grandmothers. She was <em>way</em> better! She did normal grandma things too, of course, but she also did much more.</p><p> </p><p>First of all, she used to be a spy in SHUSH. As a kid, Webby had picked up some of her grandmother’s ways, which she would later on be taught again to her. And when she was gifted a grappling hook by Mr. McDuck (she never really talked to the old man, so this came as a nice surprise, along with her new decision to learn about his family), she felt invincible in ways she could not describe. She still had to learn how to use it, but that didn’t stop her from learning a little by herself <strike>and breaking a few windows</strike>.</p><p>Her grandmother trained her constantly, occasionally taking her to a bigger ground. Webby never saw the real threat, but it was fun anyway. She’d find out about the never-ending list of Mr. McDuck’s foes, and later on her grandmother’s, but that didn’t change her goals.</p><p> </p><p>Second of all, her grandmother told exciting stories filled with action. Of course she also told fairytales, which Webby equally loved, but there was something else with these stories. It was almost like she was there, witnessing it all herself while holding her grandmother’s hand. She wasn’t exposed to too much violence, of course, but it was still intriguing with the ventilation systems and the secrecy.</p><p>She once told her a story of a man and a woman, two people who had almost balanced their personal life and their life as agents. <em>Almost, </em>her grandmother had said, her voice low and serious. She said she had still worked as an agent at that point of time.</p><p>Webby always remembered this story; something about it bugged her and calmed her at the same time.</p><p>It fascinated her; the fun yet justice-driven nature of the lady, the sarcasm and intelligence of the man, it almost seemed familiar. And the way she described their daughter just before both of them disappeared- she couldn’t exactly pinpoint it.</p><p>“What happened to them, Granny?” she had asked, her eyes wide with wonder.</p><p>“They’re hopefully in a better place,” her grandmother had said. Webby could’ve sworn she had seen a tear in her grandmother’s eye, but it was too dark to tell.</p><p> </p><p>Another point was that her grandmother was beyond multi-talented. It came with being an agent, apparently. She knew so many languages, could solve codes in minutes, and was like a literal detective. Oh, and she was really strong and fast.</p><p> </p><p>Not to mention her grandmother’s cooking. Webby had been convinced her fifth birthday cake was absolutely scrumptious, only for it to meet its match the very next year. Webby had once asked her grandmother if she ever considered opening a restaurant, and beamed when the lady laughed.</p><p>“Maybe when I was 12, dear,” the lady had said, her strong British accent a source of comfort in a friendless world.</p><p> </p><p>Webby’s list could go on forever. The bow she wore on her head was a gift from her grandmother, of course. She wasn’t sure about the quacky patch doll, but she figured it was from her grandmother too.</p><p>Even after the triplets came to the manor, she would wait for the training sessions every month.  The game sessions were all the more hilarious with her grandmother and Violet (and sometimes Huey and Donald) being the voice of reason.</p><p> She still laughed at the numerous times a simple discussion had turned into a heated debate, the room divided into two or more parts. They had accidently knocked down a chandelier with a sword once.</p><p> </p><p>The recent trip to Mervana had given her grandmother a new depth too. But now, she was glad there would be no more secrets between them.</p><p>She loved her grandmother, and knew her grandmother felt the same.</p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Bentina Beakley loved her granddaughter. She would spare no-one who said otherwise. Being the ‘most detached from her emotions’, she could confirm she cried almost every time Webby did something new (whether it was also because she saw her daughter and son-in-law in the naive young girl, she couldn’t tell).</p><p>She was never the type to depend on others. But once SHUSH’s project had failed, and with a literal baby on her hands, she figured McDuck Manor was probably one of the safest places for her granddaughter.</p><p>Webbigail Vanderquack. The one and a half year old couldn’t comprehend anything around her, let alone know what tragedy had befallen her parents. But Bentina wanted to do this right. Hugging the small girl tightly, letting the tears fall, she dragged herself to the Manor.</p><p>Duckworth had opened the door, stoic as always with a flash of concern evident on his aged features. Scrooge had recently lost his entire family himself, and was nowhere to be seen, but it was probably for the best. She was Agent 22, she couldn’t let Scrooge McDuck see her like this.</p><p>They wouldn’t be safe for long, she knew it herself. Someone or the other would find out, but for now, she was Bentina Beakley and no-one else.</p><p>*</p><p>Years passed by, and so did Duckworth. She was soon the housekeeper, but she was ready for it. Since Scrooge secluded himself in his room, she began to maintain the manor with little help. Webby offered to clean a few rooms, but the ‘vaccum cleaner incident’ convinced Bentina her granddaughter needed more time.</p><p>So she did the logical thing; training her granddaughter by SHUSH protocol. And she felt pride within her every single time.</p><p>“Granny, look! I did a backflip in the air!”</p><p>“<em>I’m on top of this really tall tree! Can you see me?</em>”</p><p>“I think I broke my arm. It hurts.”</p><p>“Did you know that the rough surface of walls gives you more grip than the fur of a rhodelodracator?”</p><p><em>Ah. </em>Webbigail’s newest obsession had become researching about Mr. McDuck’s adventures, something she had stumbled upon while ‘accidently’ finding McDuck secret archive.</p><p>(It was the vents. It was always the vents.)</p><p>“Granny, did you know that sword horses look <em>exactly</em> like unicorns? You have to recognise them by the look in their eyes,” Webby had randomly said at breakfast, a little cereal fallen on her shirt.</p><p>“No, dear,” Bentina had responded, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. She didn’t know what a sword horse was, but she wasn’t going to ruin her granddaughter’s fun.</p><p>“I hope I meet one someday. Sword horses can apparently kill a person in seconds,” the girl had sighed. Her grandmother <em>certainly</em> hadn’t agreed.</p><p> </p><p>Bentina had seen the way Webby’s eyes lit up when she told her tales of her past. The way the seven-year-old had nearly fainted on the day she said she’d start her training. The way the young girl almost squealed when she started receiving gifts from none other than Scrooge McDuck.</p><p>She had also seen how ecstatic the 10-year-old was on finding out about the triplets staying with them. The radiance emitting from her when she was on her first McDuck-22 adventure. The immeasurable joy when Scrooge said, “Call me Uncle Scrooge.”</p><p> </p><p>But she had also seen the same face cry when the quacky patch doll went missing. Bentina had felt her heart break as well, and they sat there in silence, Bentina making promises and hugging her granddaughter close.</p><p>Not to mention the doll had been the last thing they had from Webby’s parents.</p><p>They found it in a vent a few months later, but somehow, the 8-year-old’s outlook changed. Everything was suddenly in order, and Bentina felt a moment of pain she hadn’t felt in decades.</p><p>Her little girl was growing up.</p><p> </p><p>She had seen the same girl flinch; hiding away her tears in a facade, when Scrooge told her she wasn’t family. Webby had cried that night, and Bentina was there to support her, but now it was different. Webby had gotten a brief idea of how people could be like, and she never, <em>never</em> wanted to see her like that again.</p><p> </p><p>*</p><p>Dreams had never been her type.</p><p>Lena turned out to be the niece of Magica De Spell, but she helped them anyway. If Webby was sad before, she was a literal disaster now.</p><p>She didn’t even come to her for support. Bentina had tried to reach out, but the young girl was adamant. Loss had hit her hard.</p><p>The family reconciled. No one was the same. Della came back. <em>Lena</em> came back. Somehow things always came back together with the McDuck family. And then Mervana happened.</p><p> </p><p>“Granny lied to me.”</p><p>Louie had warned her- a literal adult- that this could happen. Not everyone has good in them, and Webby learnt that the hard way. For a girl who believed in the purity of unicorns, Webby felt betrayed, and worst of all, Bentina<em> saw it. </em>This was<em> her </em>fault.</p><p> </p><p>They exited Mervana that day, Webby giving her a hug before they left. The hug was everything, from ‘thank you’ to ‘sorry’.</p><p>“... we're always honest with each other. Right, Granny?”</p><p>“I'm your grandmother, dear.  I have no secrets from you from here on out.”</p><p>She ignored the distant, ‘fibbing, fibbing, fibbing’. Sure, she didn’t tell Webby everything, but that wasn’t really lying. And some secrets never hurt, right?</p><p>*</p><p>Bentina Beakley had never been more wrong in her life.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This idea was actually requested by the absolutely amazing @randomduckydoodles on tumblr! :))</p><p>Beakley and Webby are two characters woven beautifully, and their bond is really precious. Beakley herself runs so deep, we probably can't imagine it. Webby's innocence is something to admire, but even one wrong step can ruin it. Family is the greatest treasure, of course, and Beakley remembers that to protect Webby. I hope I have shown that in some way.</p><p>Thank you for reading this! Kudos and comments are always appreciated! (You can contact me on my tumblr @your-local-semi-nerd)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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